How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?" (70+ Examples)

Post author By Susan P. Joyce

“What’s your greatest weakness?” is the question that no one ever quite knows how to prepare to answer.

This single question has the power to determine in one swift blow whether you are a potential asset or a liability to a prospective employer.

Luckily, there is a solution – prepare in advance for this dreaded question, and you will tame the monster!

Today, many HR professionals consider this question old-fashioned and pointless. Who would admit to a genuine weakness in a job interview?

But interviewers who do ask this question often see it as a test of the candidate’s interest and preparation. So, being ready for this question is the best strategy.

What Is the Real Question?

Employers have two concerns behind this question:

Could you do the job well?
Would you fit successfully into the organization?

Your qualifications appear to be acceptable, or they wouldn’t be interviewing you. This question is to help dig out aspects of working with you that don’t usually show up in a resume or LinkedIn Profile.

Yes, You Do Have a Real Weakness

The absolute worst answer to this question is one of these: I’m a perfectionist. OR I work too hard.

That shows a complete lack of self-awareness, an incredible ego, or dishonesty. You may have only one weakness — if you are very lucky (or delusional or not paying attention) — but you do have a weakness. At least one!

Choose a weakness that does NOT disqualify you for this job, but does show you are:

Aware that you are not perfect.
Able to recognize when you lack a skill.
Interested in continued learning and self-improvement.

How to Choose Your Weakness

Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills as Weaknesses

Typically, weaknesses fall into one of two categories — “hard skills” or “soft skills” — and hard skills are usually the best to choose for a job interview because they are the easiest to overcome.

Hard skills are the skills that can be taught to us, usually in a classroom (live or online) or other learning environment. They include everything from how to add and subtract to how to use software or equipment.

If you choose to use a hard skill weakness, don’t choose one that is required for the job you are interviewing for unless you can prove you have overcome it.

Soft skills are often referred to as our “people skills.” These skills are much harder to change. We are usually born with these skills, and they may change as we gain experience. They include negative characteristics like being “impatient” or “demanding.”

Either type of skill can apply to a job, but hard skills are often the best choice as a weakness in a job interview because you can learn how to overcome your hard skill deficit.

4 Types of Weaknesses

When you are considering which weaknesses to share, be sure to focus on your behaviors, which can be changed, rather than your personality, which is much more difficult to change.

You want to position yourself effectively within the interview and need to match positive answers with positive tone of voice and body language.

When you prepare for this question, you will want to pick a weakness that does one of four things:

A hard skill weakness you have overcome (or are overcoming), or…
The weakness is a strength in disguise, or…
Present a current strength as a recovered weakness, or...
The weakness is irrelevant to the job. (Careful!)

Be sure that this weakness does not hinder your ability to do the job or to fit in with the employer.

Choose Your Best Weaknesses

Regardless of what strategy you use, your ultimate goal is to present an answer that doesn’t damage your potential for the position.

If you are unsure that you are picking a negative weakness, review the criteria for the position, and put yourself in the shoes of the employer to consider what you would like to hear and what you would think was negative.

Take time to practice difficult answers like this with a partner until you feel comfortable so that you will sound natural and confident in the interview.

Remember, as the sample answers (above) show, this weakness is — or was — something you have overcome, not a part of your personality that is very difficult to change.

Carefully consider the weaknesses you know you have had and have overcome:

What weaknesses have you identified yourself that you have worked to overcome? What classes have you taken or books have you read to improve a skill?
Have you earned any degrees or other professional certifications? These typically represent proof that you have learned a specific “hard skill.”
What have you been criticized for in the past by managers and/or co-workers that you have overcome (completely or mostly)?
What have your managers noted in past performance reviews as areas where you had “room for improvement” and you made the improvement?

Don’t pick a weakness that would disqualify you for the job, even if you have overcome it. For example, an accountant who doesn’t know how to use spreadsheets or a business attorney who isn’t a good negotiator would not impress a potential employer.

Be Prepared with 3 (or More) Weaknesses

After you answer this question, you may be asked for additional weaknesses, so be prepared. Prepare a list of potential weaknesses to share in your interview.

How to Answer “What Is Your Greatest Weakness?” In Two Parts

Notice in the example answers below, each answer has two parts:

The confession of the weakness, and…
The recovery — how you managed yourself to minimize the impact of the weakness, or (much more risky) the plan you have for recovery.

Be sure to present these weaknesses in terms of how they impact the employer. Stay positive. Avoid trashing anyone, particularly a former employer.

See the examples below. Adapt them to your situation and the employer.

Sample Answers for “What Is Your Greatest Weakness?”

Be prepared with more than one weakness in case you are asked for a second or third (or more).

Choose one from each category or focus on one type. Often, if your job search is focused on one type of job, one set of weaknesses will be sufficient.

1. The Hard Skill Weakness

Hard skill weaknesses can be the best weaknesses to choose. These are skills that you typically acquire through training and/or experience.

What do I mean by a “hard skill weakness”? These weaknesses are pretty clear, like the inability (or minimal ability) to:

Code in a particular programming language.
Create a spreadsheet with pivot tables or design a PowerPoint presentation.
Track different categories of expenses for a business using Numbers.
Understand and correctly use medical technology terms.

Do NOT choose a weakness that is a stated job requirement. For example, if you are interviewing for an administrative job, your inability to use Excel would not be a good weakness to share if skills using Excel is a stated requirement of the job.

In the examples below, notice the two part answers: (1) the Confession, and (2) the Recovery:

Weakness: Overcoming a Past Weakness and Gaining a Potentially Relevant Skill NOT Required
Strength: Smart, Looking Ahead in Your Career

(Confession)
In my job a few years ago, I worked in a large retail store, helping customers find what they wanted to purchase in a very large area with thousands of products to purchase.

Being multi-lingual was not required for the job, but many of our customers were Hispanic and did not speak English very well. So, helping them could be challenging, which cost the store some revenue. My manager and several co-workers spoke Spanish, and they could help those customers when I couldn’t.

(Recovery)
I felt like I was not able to do my job as well as some of my co-workers, so I took some classes in Spanish. At work, I practiced speaking Spanish with my multi-lingual coworkers and customers. Then, I could help all of our customers. That was both fun and satisfying, and now I can speak more than one language.

I’m thinking of learning Portuguese or French because speaking more than one language is very interesting and a big advantage in many situations.

Weakness: Currently Lacking a Potentially Relevant Skill NOT Required
Strength: Smart, Looking Ahead in Your Career

In this example, the “weakness” is a lack of skills in an advanced area that is related — but NOT REQUIRED — for this IT programmer job.

(Confession)
I don’t yet have substantial experience with the artificial intelligence languages like R or Python, but I am very interested in learning more about how they work.

(Recovery)
I am currently taking an online class in Python which has been very interesting so far. For the past few weeks, I have been working on a class project to develop a program which can hopefully predict when a retail customer is going to “jump ship” and go to a competitor.

I am hoping to become a Certified Associate in Python Programming by the end of the year.

With this example, the job seeker is demonstrating initiative — identifying a growing field of interest and finding a way to learn more about it as well as increase professional credibility with a certification.

I would be careful about sharing a completely irrelevant skill, like ice skating or race car driving.

2. The “Strength in Disguise” Soft Skill Weakness

What do I mean by a “weakness that is really a strength in disguise”? The weakness is really a good characteristic that has been taken a bit too far. These will give you an idea of the kinds of weaknesses you can confess to and the way you have overcome it.

Notice the two part answers: (1) the Confession, and (2) the Recovery:

Weakness: New Graduate, Entry-Level, or Career Changer without Relevant Experience
Strength: Enthusiastic Learner and Hard Worker

(Confession)
Some people would consider the fact that I have never worked in this field before as a weakness. However, being fast learner and open minded, I have no pre-conceived notions on how to perform my job.

(Recovery)
With this new work, I will have the opportunity to learn the job the way you want it done, not the way a different organization does it. I am never bored because there is always something new to learn.

In addition, although I have no former on-the-job experience with this work, I do bring my love of learning new things, which can only enhance my ability to learn this process very quickly. And, I’ve always been commended by my managers for my commitment to work hard. I’m always on-time and not a slacker.

If you do have experience or skills relevant to the job, be sure to mention them in your recovery.

Weakness: Introverted
Strength: Careful, Thoughtful, and Self-Sufficient

(Confession)
As a child, I was identified as an introvert, and I have considered that a weakness. I tend to prefer to work alone or with a very small group of people whom I know I can trust. I prefer working in a very quiet environment which is not always possible in a busy office with people working and talking in cubicles all around me.

(Recovery)
I realized as an adult that being an introvert definitely has advantages. I am motivated to work based more on thought and reason than on emotion. Typically, I don’t usually require close management — give me a project, and I’ll dig into it. I’ll ask questions to be sure I understand what is needed and when I need more information, but I will get the job done, on-time, and without a lot of fuss.

I do make an effort to reach out to my co-workers, to be friendly and cooperative, and to have a good relationship with everyone I work with, but I’m happiest when I have work to do. If the office is too noisy for me, I have earplugs that block background noise so I can focus on my work when the noise is too great, which doesn’t usually happen very often.

Naturally, if the job required you to be a good listener in some way (customer service, for example), you wouldn’t mention how noisy environments bother you or that you use earplugs to block that noise.

Weakness: Impatient
Strength: Productive and Well-Organized

(Confession)
I’ve been told by both managers and co-workers that I can be very impatient. When something has been identified as important to do, I want to work on it NOW and finish it as soon as possible. I expect that of myself, and I expect it of my co-workers and subordinates.

(Recovery)
I have learned to recognize that there are always more things to be done than any of us have time to do, and that we all often have different priorities.

So, I have focused on prioritizing my own work — either by myself or with my manager or team. I actually keep a list, and share the top 5 items on that list with my boss and my team. I find I can get more done this way, am focused on what is most important to my manager, and also have a better relationship with my co-workers and subordinates.

3. Flipping a Strength into Weakness (and then Recovering!)

Consider how or why you developed a particular strength or achieved an accomplishment? Tell that narrative (in two parts, as usual) about how you converted a weakness into something positive. See the 100 sample strengths for some options to consider.

Strength: Microsoft Office Expertise
Previous Weakness: Limited Microsoft Office Experience
Strength Presented: Problem Solving and Microsoft Office Expertise

[Note that this is a “hard skill” weakness that is easy to overcome with training, effort, and time.]

Frame this description as how you have overcome a weakness you have. For example, if one of your strengths is expert usage of Microsoft Office (and that is relevant to this job), you could confess a weakness like this confession (and recovery):

(Confession)
In my last job, we used the same medical transcription software for many years. It ran on the old technology we used, so my software skills became out of date. Other than Microsoft Outlook and personal use of Word and Excel, I had no experience using Microsoft Office software.

(Recovery)
Then I learned that we were converting to the new version of our medical transcription, and I learned it is based on current Microsoft Office products. So, over a 6-month period, I took 100 hours of training in the relevant Microsoft Office products — Excel, Word, and Outlook — practicing on my own time.

As a result, I became proficient enough to help when we finally made the transition to the new software. In helping my colleagues learn the new software, I realized that I must continue to pay attention to what is happening with technology in this field and keep my skills up-to-date, even if my employer isn’t staying current.

When you use this “greatest weakness” it may eliminate one of your answers to the greatest-strengths question or it could answer both questions.

Strength: Knowledge of/Comfort with Technology
Previous Weakness: Obsession with Technology
Strength Presented: Discipline and Knowledge of/Comfort with Technology

If one of your strengths is expert knowledge in the use of current technology, like smart phones and computers, you could use this (again, in two parts: confession and recovery):

(Confession)
I have had a hard time disconnecting from technology. I always have my smart phone with me and, of course, I have both a Mac and a PC at home. So, I was constantly checking in with my work email, visiting the company website, checking competitor’s apps, and industry news. I didn’t use technology, except my GPS, while driving, but I did spend too much time outside of working hours and even on weekends looking at some sort of smart phone or computer screen related to work.

(Recovery)
I promised myself that I would stop being so obsessed with technology, and pay more attention to real life — to my family, my friends, and what’s happening around me.

Detaching from technology is restful, good for my eyes (I’m told), and keeps me better-connected with the real world. I’m even reading a book, printed on paper, currently. So, I think I’m a more balanced person, now. But, I do still always have my smart phone with me, even when I’m sleeping.

Obviously, this would not be the weakness to choose if the position being sought required being “on duty” by your phone twenty-four by seven. And some organizations want and expect this kind of “obsession” by employees. So, if you want to work for one of those employers, you might want to find a different, more irrelevant weakness.

So, save one of your related — but not critical — strengths to use for your greatest weakness if necessary, and be ready to describe it as above: confession and recovery.

4. The “Irrelevant” Weakness

Perhaps you would prefer to use the harmless weakness strategy. This can signal that you think the question is absurd or that you don’t take it seriously, so be VERY careful when you use this.

These weaknesses can be very personal — like a hobby or a favorite type of book, music, movie, or video — or less personal like a love of travel or a specific model of car. If possible, find an irrelevant weakness that shows you are a good choice for the job.

Irrelevant Weakness: Addiction to Knitting and Crocheting
Strength: Creativity

This could be a good “weakness” for someone interviewing for a job that requires creativity, or it might be completely irrelevant to the job. As usual, we have a (1) confession and a slight (2) recovery:

(Confession)
I love to knit and crochet, and I have spent too much time and effort doing that in the past. I also found I spent too much money on special yarns, needles, and other tools. I even traveled to Ireland to spend a few days on a sheep farm, learning about how the best wool yarn is made and also learning how to create those amazing Irish fisherman’s sweaters.

(Recovery)
I know that I will never make my living with my knitting and crocheting. But I enjoy being creative, and I love giving family, friends, and charities items that I have created myself. I’ve even sold some of my creations online which is a very interesting experience.

This work also very distracting which makes it relaxing for me, and I’ve learned to budget the amount of money I spend on yarn and the time I spend knitting and crocheting.”

Some interviewers may appreciate how you dodged the question. Others may NOT, so use caution with this type of answer.

70+ Examples of Weaknesses to Consider

The list below includes 70+ examples of weaknesses that have been used successfully in job interview. When you have your list of possible weaknesses, consider how to present them as done in the sample answers below.

Aggressive
Analytical (too analytical)
Anxious
Apathetic
Arrogant
Blunt
Boisterous
Boring
Bossy
Cagey/secretive
Careless (careful!)
Cautious (too cautious)
Controlled (too controlled)
Cranky (careful!)
Critical
Cynical
Deferential
Demanding
Diffident
Direct
Disorganized (careful!)
Driven
Eccentric (careful!)
Emotional (careful!)
Emotionless
Extroverted
Fast (too fast)
Formal (too formal)
Frank
Impatient
Impulsive
Inactive
Inconsistent
Indecisive
Independent
Informal
Inexperienced
Intense
Intimidating
Introverted
Late/tardy
Meek
Miserly
Negative
Obnoxious (careful!)
Optimistic (too optimistic)
Passive
Patient (too patient)
Pessimistic
Polite (too polite)
Positive (too positive)
Quiet
Reserved
Reticent
Resigned
Serious
Self-critical
Shy (too shy)
Slow
Stubborn
Submissive
Tactless
Technology (careful!)
Thoughtless
Timid (careful!)
Trusting
Unambitious
Unconcerned
Undiplomatic
Unflappable
Unmanageable
Unrealistic
Unsociable
Untrusting
Unyielding
Vigilant (too vigilant)
Worrier
Yielding

Note the recommendations to be “careful!” if you select some of the weaknesses above. Those weaknesses tend to be viewed as very difficult to overcome or can be very harmful in a work environment. If you choose one of them, you will need solid proof that you no longer have that weakness.

The Bottom Line on Answering “What Is Your Greatest Weakness?”

Best answer: Think about a “hard skill” weakness you have recently overcome or are in the process of overcoming, and use that as your first answer, but do be prepared with two additional weaknesses.

Answering the Common Job Interview Questions:

Questions About You:

Handling Special Career Situations:

Questions About Them:

Questions for You to Ask Them:

Do You Have Any Questions? — choose from 50+ good questions to ask them
5 Absolute Must-Ask Questions for the End of Your Next Interview
The Second Interview: 5 Key Questions to Ask
45 Questions You Should NOT to Ask in Job Interviews

Interview Preparation:

About the author…

Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a recent Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. Since 1998, Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt.org. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg and on Facebook, LinkedIn.
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